BoT pushes bank data deadline by one year

The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) has extended the deadline for bank customers to update their accounts data by one year starting today.
Speaking to The Guardian yesterday the BoT Public Relations Manager Zalia Mbeo said the deadline has been extended for one year to March 14, 2013 to ensure smooth implementation of the exercise.
Mbeo said: Following this new development, all banks and financial institutions have been informed and asked to comply as the initial deadline issued last year was expected to end today (yesterday).
According to a press statement availed to The Guardian, extension of the deadline follows consultations with the Minister for Finance Mustafa Mkulo.
Minister Mkulo granted a one-year moratorium for banks to comply with the Anti-Money Laundering Regulations, 2007 to enable them to update all accounts opened prior to the coming into force of the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
The Central Bank however urged members of the public to comply with the requirement in order to avoid inconveniences that could result from failure to adhere to the directive of updating their personal information.
Some of the requirements for updating a customers records are a letter from the local government authority, electricity or water bills, residence certificate, residence affidavit, salary slip and Voter ID.
Asked to comment on the state of confusion that has prevailed in carrying out the exercise, Mbeo said: We have heard the customers complaints on how some have been scrambling to update information on their accounts.
Initially, in March last year, BoT which is the banker of banks, ordered all banks to update information of their customers accounts by mid March this year, she said.
However it does not appear that the banks immediately took the matter in letter and spirit.
That is why some started as late as early this year, while others only gave short notice which may not even have reached all their customers, they said.
Not much was done last year though they had ample time to do so, it appears. Most banks and customers have been only active in the past few weeks, one of the analysts said.
A survey done by The Guardian has established that it was not until last month when many of the banks started the exercise.
Some banks when asked on progress in implementing the exercise only said they would call their customers in case they suspect they urgently needed additional information from them.
CRDB Bank customers were on Tuesday forced to rush to the banks branches to update their information so as to beat the deadline set for Tuesday, according to the bank.
But on reaching the bank some of them were turned back on grounds that they did not have the required information to update their accounts.
Some of the customers interviewed yesterday expressed relief at the extension.
For his part, Amani Rashid a CRDB customer said he feels relief after the extension of the deadline, saying he had got the information to update his account details at the very last few days to the deadline. He said the time was not enough for him to provide the bank with accurate information for his accounts and those of his children.
Meanwhile, Khadja Suleiman a customer at Tanzania Postal Bank (TPB) said she was not even aware of the exercise.
Its just today when I saw other customers filling the forms that I became aware and decided to do the same since I have time, Suleiman noted.
Following the enactment of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2006 and regulations made there under, and issuance of a public notice by the Bank of Tanzania in September 2011, it is a statutory obligation for the banks to obtain and maintain records and detailed particulars of their customers.